HOW SOLAR PANELS
LAST WAY LONGER THAN OTHER HOME ELECTRONICS, AND WHY THEY'LL STAY THAT WAY FOR A LONG TIME
Like any kind of electronic equipment, no solar panel can last forever.
But a good quality set of panels can last you way longer than practically any kind of electronic device you use every day.
Consider this:
- Household appliances typically last a bit over 10 years, and 15 at most;
- Laptops usually last about 5 years;
- Smartphones have an average lifespan of about 2 and a half years (probably even less in the near future).
Solar panels?
Upwards of 25 years.
At least that's the number you'll usually find if you do an Internet search for how long solar panels last.
But actually, we've had reliable evidence for awhile that their true life span is even greater.
For example, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy's own recommendations on solar panel end-of-life management, a set of panels (Photovoltaic [PV] module, as it's called in the link) has an estimated lifespan of 30 to 35 years.
That isn't just clearly more than what most websites say online, but it's also way longer than the average lifespan of a wind turbine (about 20 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency).
Even better: the above-mentioned lifespan of 30-35 years is not how long it takes for the panels to stop functioning at all: it's just how long it takes for them to stop functioning at optimal capacity.
Usually, 80% or more of maximum capacity is considered "optimal" for solar panels.
This means that, even after reaching 30-35 years of continuous use, whilst they won't be producing at 100% of their original maximum capacity, they can still keep on producing close to 80% of it.
And that 30-35 years figure is an average of panels in operation today. With the underlying technology constantly improving, we can confidently expect the new panels released these next few years to last even longer (some even estimate lifespans of 40 to 50 years by the end of this decade).
This is exactly the opposite from will happen in the future with smartphones and other such electronics, which usually are not built to last long, in the hopes that consumers will get the "latest version" just a couple of years after they bought their last device. It's called Planned Obsolescence, and it's good that solar panels aren't being made this way.
Because of all this, we often call solar panels "the most durable appliance a home can have".
By the looks of it, that statement will hold true for a long time to come.
Free Solar Texas' engineering team is comprised of experts in fields like solar energy, battery energy storage, EV charging and home efficiency.
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